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(Economic observation) Why is China promoting online consumption?
China News Service, Beijing, September 10 (Reporter Li Xiaoyu) With the arrival of the peak season for traditional consumption, China has taken new measures to boost consumption. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang chaired an executive meeting of the State Council on the 9th to implement a package of measures to promote new consumption.
The meeting proposed to promote open online courses, Internet diagnosis and treatment and other services; promote online and offline integration of fitness and tourism; explore new retail stores like smart supermarkets. In addition, it is necessary to promote 5G networks, Internet of things, etc. to prioritize coverage of central business districts, industrial parks and transportation hubs to build gigabit cities.
The reason China is pushing new types of consumption is to resist downward pressure and stabilize economic growth.
Over the past five years, the rate of contribution of consumption to China’s economy has remained at around 60%. With the world economy slipping into an unprecedented recession and growing uncertainty in the external environment, China now needs more than ever to stabilize growth through domestic demand, especially consumption.
Zhao Ping, vice president of the Research Institute of China International Trade Promotion Council, said stable growth now depends more on consumption. “Consumption is final demand and investment is intermediate demand. Investment growth must be proportional to consumption growth to improve the quality and level of supply and achieve both industrial and consumer improvements.”
Affected by the epidemic, traditional consumption has been “out of the door”, while new types of consumption, such as online shopping, online education and online medical services, have gained popularity. According to official data, while total retail sales of consumer goods in the first seven months of this year fell by almost 10% year-on-year, online retail sales have been opposite the trend and have increased by 9.0% . Among them, the growth rate of online retail sales of physical goods reached 15.7%, accounting for a quarter of total retail sales of consumer goods.
Zhao Ping said that the new type of consumption has become a powerful engine to promote consumption growth, not only with a rapid growth rate and a high ratio, but also a strong driving force. Supporting the development of new types of consumption leads to promoting the recovery of consumption and to better play the role of consumption in stabilizing economic growth.
In the medium and long term, this is also the need for China to build a new development pattern with domestic and international cycles as the main body and the mutual promotion of domestic and international cycles.
Zang Yueru, director of the Market and Price Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomics, said that the structure of demand and the improvement of the quality of consumption are important driving forces that drive the virtuous cycle of the national economy and accelerate the national and international double cycles. Lead new supplies and shape new markets through new high-quality, safe and environmentally friendly consumptions, to better meet existing demands and innovate, and fully reflect the “ballast stone” effect of consumption on healthy and sustainable development of the economy.
All the key areas supported by the executive meeting of the State Council are rising up against the trend of the epidemic, and there are still many potential “emerging industries” in the future.
For example, online education has now become the development direction of the global educational community. The recently concluded China International Trade in Services Fair 2020 has organized a special education exhibition for the first time, with more than 120 exhibiting companies, of which the main force is online education companies.
Analysts believe that capturing these key areas and making efforts will have a “four-two-two-for-all” effect in promoting consumption.
At the same time, the executive meeting also rolled out a series of measures to improve the “hard facilities” and the “soft environment” for new types of consumption. How to accelerate the construction of new consumer infrastructure, accelerate the digital upgrade of rural trade circulation, promote the construction and shared use of terminals such as smart express boxes; improve mechanisms for the protection of user rights and product traceability, and take strong measures against infringements, counterfeits, fraud and privacy leaks in accordance with the law, creating peace of mind. An honest consumer environment.
A report issued by the China Consumers Association earlier showed that online shopping in the first half of this year caused many disputes among consumers. For example, some online shopping products are of poor quality and there are security risks; online customer service on some e-commerce platforms cannot track consumer demands in a timely manner, and logistics and distribution are not standardized. . There is also frequent chaos in areas like live streaming, online video, and online training services.
Given this circumstance, the requirement of this meeting to improve the mechanisms for the protection of the rights and interests of users is undoubtedly “prescribe the appropriate drug”, which allows consumers to dare to consume and be willing to consume, and contributes to the constant and healthy development of new forms of consumption. (Finish)
